ABM Q4 - Flipbook - Page 72
Fleet Focus
TCO – Total Cost of Ownership
Capital cost: The V7E range starts at
£28,500 before VAT, delivery, and grants
for the 50kWh model. We tested the
£30,500 67kWh variant. Comparable
models from legacy brands cost well
over £10,000 more.
Fuel Efficiency
Range: On the WLTP combined cycle, the
67kWh V7E has a range of 204 miles,
while the 50kWh model has a range of
149 miles.
Maintenance Cost
Standard protection: Farizon offers a
standard warranty of five years, or
120,000 miles.
Regular maintenance: Being electric,
there are no oil changes, and the V7E
should wear its braking components
out slower than a diesel van, due to
regenerative braking.
Downtime
Service intervals: Two years or 25,000
miles.
Charging speeds: The V7E can charge at
100kW, for an 18-minute 20% to 80%
recharge on the 50kW model, or 30
minutes on the 67kWh model.
Dealer network: As of the time of
writing, Farizon has a network of nine
UK dealers. Coverage is best in the M4
corridor, but is more limited in the North
of England. There are no locations in
Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Safety
ADAS: Standard-fit includes Rear Cross
Traffic Alert (RCTA), Lane Departure
Warning System (LDWS), Lane Keep
Assist (LKA) and Intelligent Speed Assist
(ISA), though many of these are poorly
calibrated, and drivers will be inclined to
disable or ignore them.
Driver support: A 360-degree camera,
Adaptive Cruise Control and Traffic Sign
Interpretation are standard.
Safety rating: Euro NCAP is yet to test the
V7E, but the larger SV, which is based on
the same platform, received five stars.
As with most EVs, the V7E has
regenerative braking, which is no issue
in itself. The issue is with the calibration
of the accelerator pedal: regardless
of which level of regenerative braking
is selected, there is almost no travel
between acceleration and (fairly strong)
regenerative braking.
Unless you have rally-driver reflexes,
it is difficult to simply maintain speed
in the V7E without falling into a dizzying
feedback loop. There is no option to
disable it entirely, either.
The drive of the V7E is both helped
and hindered by its strong level of
specification. The 360-degree camera
is a great addition, both for reversing
and for pulling out of junctions, as it
automatically activates the side view
when the indicator is turned on, albeit
only at low speeds.
Lacking polish
The advanced driver assistance
systems (ADAS), however, are simply an
annoyance. The lane-keeping assist is
always nipping away at the steering, and
adds an unnatural level of weight to the
wheel itself, making it feel as if you are
not really in control.
The speed limit warning does not seem
to have been recalibrated for the UK, so it
sees a ‘40’ sign as a 40kmh sign, and is
therefore constantly beeping. The blindspot monitoring system works part-time,
so you never trust it. Then, when you go
to check the blind-spot the old-fashioned
way, the driver monitoring system does
its best impression of an air raid siren.
While I am being slightly hyperbolic,
this does raise an important point. A
warning system is only effective if the
driver trusts it. A system like this is
nothing more than a boy crying wolf,
and will either be disabled, or simply
Fine-tuning the
fundamentals:
From ADAS
to 360-degree
cameras, the V7E
is both helped and
hindered by its
systems
